Teena Marie Dies At Age 54

Teena Marie, 54, was found dead Sunday in her home in California, according to reports by CNN. The R&B singer, known best for her work with mentor Rick James, was apparently found by her daughter. While no cause of Marie's death has been revealed, it's being reported that she died in her sleep. She was to perform in Atlanta this week. It would have been her first live show since she suffered a seizure last month.

Marie was one of the most popular white R&B singers of her time, especially in the 1980s. Following her 1979 debut, Wild and Peaceful, she released seven albums in the '80s with most of them coming during her years on Epic. Many of the tracks on those records made their way back into the mainstream of the '90s, particularly "Ooo, La, La, La," which was interpolated by the Fugees on "Fu-Gee-La." Marie's career then spanned across the first half of the '90s and into the 2000s. Her last album was 2009's Conga Square, a relatively well received effort that included features from MC Lyte and Faith Evans.

It's really sad to lose such a talent so prematurely. And make no mistake about it: Teena Marie was still recording, still performing, and she still sounded fabulous. The fact that radio considered her yesterday's news didn't change that fact. Just last year (2009) she put out an album called "Congo Square," and if you listen to samples on Amazon, you can see that she had much more talent than most of today's pre-packaged, over-produced, auto-tuned pop tarts.

Chuck Anziulewicz · 1:07 p.m. · December 27, 2010

still really shocked about this. also, thank you andrew for steering clear of the "ivory queen of soul" tag.